20 | JULY 11 • 2024 

renewal,” he says.

An artist from a young age, Smith grew 
up in Los Angeles and studied graphic 
design in college. He loved learning from 
“multiple professors who emphasized the 
way politics, technology and historical con-
vention impact the way things look.
” For 
more than a dozen years, he’s been teaching, 
painting murals-for-hire and making art 
from words and Hebrew letters.
“Hebrew is the thread that connects all 
Jews to their heritage as well as to each 
other,
” he says. “No matter what religious or 
geographic background you have, these texts 
and prayers belong to all of us. By making 
art with these texts, my work can be univer-
sal.
”
Debra Darvick, a local artist in her own 
right and a Beth Ahm member, attended 
two sessions with Smith as well as the syn-

agogue’s annual event honoring past presi-
dent David Stryk, where congregants collab-
oratively painted the mural that hangs in the 
synagogue. She especially enjoyed “having 
a hand in creating the mural that Hillel 
designed for the celebration,
” she says.
“Hillel was a terrific teacher, 
giving context for the creative 
assignments he had prepared 
for us,
” she says. “We were able 
to draw upon creative and spir-
itual wells in formulating our 
ideas for our works.
”
She also noted that “when 
you create art together, all sorts of new 
conversations come to the surface.
” Darvick 
enjoyed getting to know fellow communi-
ty members on a deeper level as they sat 
together making art.
“I had a truly wonderful time at Beth 
Ahm,
” says Smith, who had never before led 

two big group projects with one congrega-
tion. “From the get-go, Rabbi Rubenstein 
was very interested in getting everyone to 
make art. An unprecedented two of them 
were communal pieces, one a mural by teens 
and their families and the second an even 
bigger mural by everyone in the community.
“This speaks to the values of the shul, 
holding community above all else,
” he adds. 
Smith designed the foyer mural as a piece 
“about the joy in doing Judaism.
” The Beth 
Ahm team guided him to create “something 
with energy.
”
The mural features abstract representa-
tions of hands, a lulav, a Torah, a Havdalah 
candle and a shofar being blown. “The idea 
was that the abstracted figures would allow 
anyone to see themselves in the piece and 
feel the joy that comes from these rituals 
and traditions,
” he says. “The style would 
give a sense of dynamism that I hope every-
one feels when they do these mitzvot.
”
The first Shabbat after the mural went 
up at Beth Ahm, a crowd gathered around 
it. Seeing it up on the wall as one complete 
design gave the artwork new meaning, 
Darvick says.
“I had painted two hands but had real-
ly recognized them as hands,” she says. 
“Looking at the mural, I recognized the 
hands I had painted were holding the 
lulav and etrog, [which had been] paint-
ed by someone else. The mural, and the 
whole experience of having worked on it 
with fellow Beth Ahm-ers, makes a great 
metaphor for joining together in a com-
mon cause, each of us doing our part and 
then seeing the result come together in 
such a beautiful way.” 

OUR COMMUNITY

Hillel Smith works on the mural.

Debra 
Darvick

COURTESY OF BETH AHM

This “Burning Bush” mural was installed near the weekday entrance.

Another mural was installed in the Beth Ahm lobby.

continued from page 18

